It’s the simplest way anyone can learn in a flash the basic moral principles that must apply in the voting booth.

It’s the new, free, non-partisan "Catholic Voting Guide" app.

On Oct. 9, the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy launched its easy-to-use-and-understand app.

“The app gives very clear, concise explanations of the moral principles to be applied when choosing an elected leader,” said Father John Trigilio Jr., president of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy (CCC).

The app may be downloaded directly from the CCC website. It is available for iPhone, iPod, iPad, as well as Android and Windows smartphones. It may be downloaded from the Google Play store, and the Windows version is available in the Windows phone store as well. The iOS version is available in the iTunes.

The principles apply to any voter, Catholic or not.

“We zeroed in on six key issues,” he said. “These principles are timeless. They’re consistently taught by the Church and based on sacred Scripture and natural law.”

The six issues are: right to life, religious liberty (and freedom of religion), sanctity of marriage, private property, access to necessary goods and war.

“We not only accentuate the moral principles on making a right decision, but we also point out how we have to prioritize,” Father Trigilio said.

The app applies these six issues in order of preference.

Father Trigilio emphasized the non-negotiables: “The right to life is first and foremost. It must always take pre-eminence. It’s the foundational issue of all the other rights. That’s what Cardinal Ratzinger said and the bishops say.”

To prepare the app, the confraternity used the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship" document as well as the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s "Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion," which was written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope Benedict XVI.

Next, after the right to life, is religious liberty, because the United States was founded on religious liberty, the priest said.

“Then, precisely because we have freedom of religion and religious liberty, we have the right to protect the sanctity of marriage, which is No. 3,” said Father Trigilio. “They’re all organically connected. Because of religious liberty we have the right and the obligation to protect traditional marriage because it’s the very bedrock of society, the cornerstone of church and state. And the family is built on the cornerstone of marriage. The Pope has mentioned not even the pope has the authority to redefine marriage. Nor does the government. We can’t redefine it.”

The app offers an explanation of what formal and material cooperation in evil is as well. “We have a lot of Catholics who don’t know that (distinction),” Father Trigilio said.

He brought up several of these points when speaking before the app’s launch with Raymond Arroyo on EWTN's The World Over. (See the interview here.)

Another pre-election witness for the faithful comes from Nelson Fine Art and Gifts, a family-owned art and merchandise manufacturer in Steubenville, Ohio.

The company offers t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, buttons, yard signs, posters, license plates and other articles with such slogans as “I vote my values” and “Some things are not negotiable.”

Owner Mark Nelson has a particular goal: He wants Americans to voice their values.

“Basically, this being an election year, it’s very important to us to make every difference we can,” he said.

That means standing for the values that are most important: life, marriage and freedom.

“These three non-negotiables are very dear to our hearts as Catholics, as well as citizens in America,” Nelson explained.

Like Father Trigilio, Nelson emphasized: “First and foremost is life. It’s the basis of everything. And marriage and family are basic tenets of society. And then there’s religious freedom, that we may not be coerced and forced into paying for abortions and more.”

Nelson is no newcomer to the culture wars. For the last 25 years, he and his wife have been involved in the defense of life.

They are happy to use their company in the effort.

“Basically,” Nelson said, “we see it as a way of defending life using the resources God has given us and the talents we have here within our company.”

He hopes that not only Catholics, but other Christians and other Americans, will make use of the items, which don’t endorse any candidate or party, but, rather, the idea of voting moral values.

Any app I’ve had that links to facebook has popped up these permission.
I suspect it is the designers intent to make this a fully capable social network app.
I had the same problem with words-with-friends which I do not use through facebook but just via email.
So don’t get overly excited about this. While annoying, I doubt it is watching you.

Posted by Leo on Wednesday, Oct, 31, 2012 7:10 PM (EDT):

Dear “Father John Trigilio”

Please see the permissions page for this app
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.littleiapps.CCCVoter

“This application has access to the following:
take pictures and videos
Allows the app to take pictures and videos with the camera. This allows the app, at any time, to collect images that the camera is seeing.

Why does this app need this level of intrusion on my privacy? - if this was an app from a government department ...

Posted by cthlc12345 on Tuesday, Oct, 30, 2012 6:30 PM (EDT):

Here are some of the specifics in Barack Obama’s record:
1) he funded Planned Parenthood with hundreds of millions of federal dollars
2) he voted against stopping minors from crossing state lines for abortions
3) he voted NO regarding informing parents about minors who get abortions out-of-state
3) he was rated 100% by NARAL on pro-choice issue votes in the Senate.
4) he was rated 0% by the National Right-To-Life Committee, indicating a pro-choice stance
5) Obama consistently vocally supports Roe v. Wade

On the opposite side, Mitt Romney has been moderately pro-life, and certainly NOT the radical pro-choicer that Obama has always been. And Paul Ryan’s rating of 100% pro-life by the National Right-To-Life Committee has to be considered, too.

If Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan is any indication of his future appointments, I think we’d be in excellent hands.

Posted by cthlc12345 on Tuesday, Oct, 30, 2012 6:09 PM (EDT):

If all Catholics would use this Guide and do 5 minutes of research, they would clearly conclude that President Obama has always been consistently on the wrong side of these important Catholic issues, while Mitt Romney has recently been on the right Catholic side on . Paul Ryan’s record is tremendous on the Catholic side (for example, rated 100% pro-life record by the National Right-To-Life Committee, and rated 0% pro-choice by NARAL).

Posted by Deacon Tom Lang on Tuesday, Oct, 30, 2012 1:55 PM (EDT):

Father Trigilio and the CCC are to be highly commended for this wonderful and extremely timely App! It’s interface is very user friendly and the content is direct and to the point as is needed in this “sound bite world” in which we live. Way to go!!! Now we can only pray that people use it and follow its guidance.

Posted by Father John Trigilio on Tuesday, Oct, 30, 2012 1:30 PM (EDT):

It is not our APP that is accessing your contacts and call logs.

This is the first and only instance I have heard about.

Posted by Al on Tuesday, Oct, 30, 2012 11:06 AM (EDT):

Downloaded!

Comprehensive, cool - a great tool.

Posted by Leo on Monday, Oct, 29, 2012 7:35 PM (EDT):

This video summary from Vox Nova and Busted Halo (Paulists)

http://vox-nova.com/2012/10/25/voting-catholic/

seems to be more complete and balanced and closer to the USCCB guidance eg on immigration and environment.

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Joseph Pronechen is staff writer with the National Catholic Register since 2005. His articles have appeared in a number of national publications including Columbia magazine, Soul, Faith and Family, Catholic Digest, and Marian Helper. His religion features have also appeared in Fairfield County Catholic and in one of Connecticut’s largest news dailies. He holds an MS degree and formerly taught English and courses in film study that he developed at a Catholic high school in Connecticut. Joseph and his wife Mary reside on the East Coast.